McLaren boss Ron Dennis has dropped his strongest hint yet that Pedro de la Rosa (right) could retain his race seat for the remainder of the 2006 season.

The Spaniard was promoted from test driver following the departure of Juan Pablo Montoya, and in three outings has scored 10 points, finishing second in Hungary, following on from a dramatic performance in Bahrain last year, when, once again, he deputised for the Colombian.

Following Montoya's departure, there was speculation that the team's second test driver, Gary Paffett, might be given a race drive, while the British media - despite the fact that Paffett is British - dreams of Lewis Hamilton making his F1 debut.

However, speaking in Istanbul, Dennis appeared to give de la Rosa the thumbs up for the remainder of 2006. Asked when Pedro would next race for the Woking team, the Englishman replied: "Definitely Monza and most likely the rest of the season."

Asked why he was not considering putting Paffett or Hamilton in the second car, despite the fact that his team has no hope of winning the title, Dennis was as forthright as ever.

"We are not in the business of developing grand prix drivers, we are in the business of winning races," he said. "We will always put the best available drivers in the cars. The place to develop young drivers is not in the pressure of grand prix racing."